Questions and Re-Discovery ...

Wednesday, Jan 24, 2018. Can faith be without doubt? What is with the days where you are certain about your faith, which are then suddenly followed by big questions, by doubt, by disappointment and emotional turmoil? Is faith without questions? What is your way to deal with the questions? Is it ignorance? Do you want to bury them somewhere? Or do you want answers?

Questions! …

All faith needs to go through questions and doubt. All faith is questioned and challenged! This is the case for all the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament. They were under pressure. They suffered. There were tribulations. They were oppressed. And they found themselves being the biggest problem: with their own missing faith, their own doubt, their own character features which did not meet the standards of God's holiness.

Questions can appear when you think about God. Is there a God? Or you fully believe that there is a God, but you ask yourself: what does it have to do with you yourself? Does God want to be in any type of relationship to you? Or you ask yourself: how to deal with the world around you? The world seems to ignore God, even your fellow Christians? Perhaps you suffer from the simplified views which the Christians have in your immediate environment?

The deepest challenges of faith do not come from the outside, but from the inside. They come when you do not hope any more, when you do not love any more, when you are just disappointed and have lost any sense of God's possibilities. And it can happen, at least temporarily. We all have our moments of frustration. The old prophets had it, some of them were running away. Others were trying to save themselves with arrogance, even Moses. He had faith, yes, but he lost some insight. It is written for all of us as a template, as God's wisdom and help given to us!

Discover God's Truth …

Each and every challenge to faith, each and every thought of doubt, can also be taken as God's help to find a deeper faith, a more sincere love, a better insight into the truth, a more intense fellowship.

God wants us to discover his truth, step by step. He wants us to mature, to discover his love, his deep affection. He does never forget anyone! He never lets down anyone. There are so many things which can lead us away from him. There are so many errors we have in our mind and our heart, about God. About us. About this world. About the perspectives of life. About what is possible.

Questions are the invitation to go to God in prayer, to go to him and ask him. Prayer does not need a special place, it does not need a particular environment. Ask him, right now and here. Ask him, why something happens, why you suffer, what you are supposed to learn from your situation. Ask him, go to him, let him explain. Often, this explanation does not come in one second. Sometimes it does! There are moments where God answers, just the moment you ask. Things become clear, suddenly. And you realize how close he was all the time, and how fantastic he is, how deep his knowledge is, his truth, his love.

Questions are good. We are asked to examine everything, and keep the good things. God has a lot for us in store, for every day of our life! We need to bring our questions to him, our doubt, our trouble! And then let go in his presence … (Roland Potthast) ... further texts